This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Thrust washers fail due to loss of lubrication and high interface temperature conditions. One of the common failure modes for polymeric thrust bearings is due to excessive interface temperature resulting directly due to loss of lubrication. This mode of failure is prominent in applications where lubrication is available only at the OD of the bearing due to the inability of existing designs to effectively pump lubricant into the interface by overcoming centrifugal force. As a result, use of polymeric bearings in such application conditions has been a challenge.